HALLANDALE BEACH - Gulfstream Park’s Championship Meet, which includes the $16 million Pegasus World Cup Championship Invitational Series, Gr. I Florida Derby, Eclipse Awards, Claiming Crown and Clasico Internacional del Caribe, begins Saturday, Dec. 1 with a renovated turf course.

    Renovations on the 180-foot course began over the summer, according to General Manager Bill Badgett. “We started with the outside 100 feet and we totally tore it up and put all new sod down,” he said. “The inner part of the course we renovated. We used Celebration Turf, which continues to score high in studies done on tolerance and recovery.”

   Badgett announced earlier this year there were more than 5,000 stall applications received for the 3,100 stalls at Gulfstream, Palm Meadows and Gulfstream Park West for the Championship Meet. Horsemen are also stabled for the meet in South Florida at Palm Beach Downs and Payson Park.

   “There’s a lot of excitement about the meet,” Badgett said. “More horsemen want to keep horses in South Florida year-round or permanently relocate here due to our program. Obviously, turf racing is very important to us and the addition of the Pegasus World Cup Turf only adds to it. We’re happy that we have a pristine course that’s ready for business beginning Saturday. It will be the first of many big weekends during the Championship Meet.”     

Breakfast at Gulfstream Returns

   Breakfast at Gulfstream returns with the opening of the Championship Meet Saturday. Fans can come out between 8-10:30 a.m. and take free tram tours of the backstretch, watch horses gallop and work out, and enjoy a breakfast buffet ($10 per person, children under two eat free). Tours of the backstretch last approximately 45 minutes and guests must arrive before 9:30 a.m. to take the tour. There are character appearances for the children each Saturday and special guests.

Pegasus Tickets on Sale

    Tickets to the Pegasus World Cup Championship Invitational Series, which includes the $9 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational and the inaugural running of the $7 million Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational, are on sale now at pegasusworldcup.com

   To be contested Saturday, Jan. 26, the Pegasus has attracted the country’s top horses in its previous two runnings including Horses of the Year Gun Runner, California Chrome and Arrogate, plus West Coast and Gunnevera. Both Pegasus races are the richest of their kind in North America.

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